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Who Needs Supervisors anyway……..
Did you ever get the
impression that there are people saying this in
headquarters? Not
the vast majority of the upper administration of this
department but just a few. I do not like to criticize our Commissioner because I know
him to be an intelligent, hard working, dedicated member
of this department.
A department I know he is very proud to
represent. I
am also positive that he would not want to take any
action that could tarnish our image.
However, I must make this one point, of all the
decisions that he has made since taking over as Police
Commissioner, his recent decision to eliminate one
patrol supervisor during a portion of the tour is a
recipe for disaster.
He must be listening to individuals, perhaps on
our job or in County government, who have no idea of
what role a patrol supervisor plays in the efficient
running of this department.
Perhaps it has been too long for him to remember
what we do out there or he is not paying attention to
crime statistics, but no one can tell me that this
present situation is a healthy one.
I have spent too many years on patrol, both as a
Police Officer and as a Patrol Supervisor, to listen to
any argument that would suggest that this decision makes
sense. There
is no organization anywhere, be it law enforcement, the
military or the private sector, where the operation runs
more efficiently with dangerously low levels of
supervision. It
is unfair to the supervisors, our police officers, and
the general public to allow this situation to continue.
Just look to the east at the Suffolk County PD.
This department, approximately the same size as
ours, is budgeted next year for 490 supervisors; our
budgeted strength in 2009 is now 409!
Does anyone else besides me see a problem here?
I do realize that the
Commissioner is under intense pressure from the County
Executive to cut costs.
However, I must repeat this once more, this is
not the area to cut corners.
We appreciate the Commissioner attending the
September SOA Meeting to discuss this situation and I
hope that the feedback he received from his supervisors
causes him to revisit this decision.
Legislation
Update - Governor Signs SOA Sponsored Bill
There were just two bills left from our legislative agenda
awaiting action by the Governor, both of them related to
raising the maximum age under various pension plans from
age 62 to age 65. The
blanket statewide bill was vetoed but the bill that the
SOA sponsored, which affected only members of 384e, was
signed into law. What
this bill does is allow members to remain in 384e for an
additional 3 years before switching over to the 375i
pension plan which allows you to stay to age 70 (if you
have really lost your mind!).
This is a great benefit for both Tier I and Tier
II members. For
Tier I members staying until age 65 you still max out at
75% at 35 years as opposed to having to stay for 371/2
years. For Tier II members it is an even greater benefit because
after age 62 your pension would decrease from 70% to
64%, now you can remain on payroll and achieve the full
70% and stay until age 65.
I realize that most of you reading this will
probably believe that this will never affect you (I know
I am saying that) but there will be some that choose to
stay beyond age 62, even if only for a year or two, and
this is a nice benefit.
We already have a few people who are on payroll
that this bill will affect, and I am sure there will me
more in the future.
I wanted to give you an update on the 9/11 Bill amendments
that the Governor signed.
The main provision of this amendment as it
affects us is the elimination of the 40-hour requirement
for individuals present for the first 48 hours after the
initial incident. For
members who have already filed and been rejected because
you did not have the 40 hour requirement but were
present during the first 48 hours there is no need to
resubmit your application.
I have been in contact with the NYS P&F
Retirement System and have been informed by them that
they will go over every rejected application and
reconsider all of them that now meet the new
requirements. However,
they stated that this will take some time; she even
estimated it might take a year!
She asked us to be patient.
However, if you did not file because you did not
have the 40 hours minimum but now qualify because you
were there during the first 48 hours you must now file.
You have until 2010 to do so but do not wait, get
your application in.
If you need any assistance with this please
contact me at the office, I will be happy to walk you
though the process.
Endorsements
for Election Day
In
this issue we have provided you with the list of SOA
endorsements for the upcoming election.
The Board of Governors, in voting on these
selections, made their decisions based in large part on
past performance of the candidates as well as their
answers to our questions for the candidates actually
interviewed. These
interviews were held in conjunction with the Detectives
Association (DAI).
We greatly appreciate the participation of all
the candidates but feel that the individuals selected
are the best choices to represent our interests.
In this issue you will also find the endorsements
of the Suffolk County SOA to assist our members living
in Suffolk. While
we obviously had no input in their decisions we believe
that it might be beneficial for you to see how they view
their local representatives.
As
always, any questions on any of the above items please
call me at the office or email me at nassoa@aol.com
HELPFUL
LINKS FOR UP-TO-DATE
LEGISLATION
http://www.senate.state.ny.us/
http://assembly.state.ny.us/
http://sobb.com/states/newyork/nylinks.html
http://www.state.ny.us/
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